SA’s show of strength

Updated: April 8, 2009

Mountain Biking South Africa has named a 33-rider strong World Championships squad for 2009. Not all the riders in the squad will be selected for the World Championships, in Canberra in September, but the squad will represent the country at the first round of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup in Pietermaritzburg later this week.

Not surprisingly, Beijing Olympians, Burry Stander and Yolande Speedy head up the squad, which comprises 19 cross-country racers and 14 downhillers.┬á

The riders are not obligated to race next week’s World Cup in national team kit, unless they are Juniors that aren’t members of a International Cycling Union-registered team.

The Pietermaritzburg round of the 2009 World Cup will inaugurate a new category, which has been introduced by the UCI, the Junior World Cup Series, which offers riders, aged 17-18 years access to the premier international racing series for the first time.